A crescent moon hung in a brightening sky over the cabin early this morning. The air was heavy and cold. All was quiet at that hour until a rooster crowed somewhere down The Mountain to our west.
The stillness had been broken. The peace remained.
The scent of woodsmoke lingered on my clothes and in my (considerable) hair, left behind by Saturday’s memorable morning fire. I walked over to the newly christened pit, where all that remained were two charred chunks of oak.
While the fire was burning yesterday, and again later, Deb suggested that next time I build it larger and (by implication) warmer. I take her point, and I’ll cop to having been somewhat economical (for lack of a better word) with this one.
I’m not a bonfire kinda guy, but maybe I could be a little less conservative. And it’d probably help if I didn’t insist on burning punky red cedar that’ll never produce the BTUs of seasoned hardwood.
What I will say, however, is that my modest fire definitely raised the temperature in the woodsy nook around the ring. I didn’t notice that ’til I walked away.
And yet we had a great draw from the prevailing wind the whole time, thanks to the way the fire pit is situated. I think we picked ourselves a pretty good spot.
One year ago today, we became a family of five — our happy Heeler, our Redneck Malinois, Miss Smudge joined the tribe bound for The Mountain. She’s been a constant delight and a daily challenge, and we wouldn’t trade her for anything. Smudge is one helluva dog, 12 months later still a keeper.
Our routine has changed now that Deb’s gone back to work. The familiar rhythm is more of a cadence these days, perhaps less spontaneous, more devoted to allowing her some time to re-charge on her days off.
Laundry must be done then, too, and lately we’ve been choosing Sunday for the chore. And so it was today, driving east to Gassville and settling in at the laundromat for a couple of hours.
We were back on The Mountain by 1pm. Efficient.
As we turned onto our road, we saw activity at a neighbor’s garage and stopped to visit, the first time we’ve had a chance to catch up since before the holidays. We were there for over an hour. The five us talked and told tales, cajoled and needled each other good-naturedly, and we laughed. We accomplished nothing of any consequence — except connecting as neighbors.
Out here, that’s always time well spent.
“Y’know,” I said to Deb while looking out the window shortly before 5pm, “it’s lookin’ like we’re gonna have quite the sunset.”
And we did. Over the next half-hour we kept our eyes on the western sky, taking turns going outside and snapping photos of something that only the human eye can capture.
Moments like that validate everything we’ve done, wrestled, endured and conquered.
We’ve found our place. I hope you find yours.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath
#LetsGoBrandon #FJB
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